Goblin Quest

[Pavbat666]

Hello! So I was thinking of making up this adventure with goblins, in where they raid the large town in where the PC's are at this point. They are all lv. 2, and I need some ideas to spice the adventure up. I don't want it to be too generic, because I always never put any interesting details in, and my games are always too "by the books", with too many rules. They will also be taking the mayor of the town with them, but I want it to be more than just holding him for ransom. Does anyone have any ideas? The mayor is also LG, if anyone asks, no he did not build the town on ancient goblin lands if anyone asks

[Liquor Box]

Maybe a goblin agent is left in town and uses magic to impersonate the mayor - part of their role is to discourage or sabotage the PC's efforts.

[johnbragg]

Hello! So I was thinking of making up this adventure with goblins, in where they raid the large town in where the PC's are at this point. They are all lv. 2, and I need some ideas to spice the adventure up. I don't want it to be too generic, because I always never put any interesting details in, and my games are always too "by the books", with too many rules. They will also be taking the mayor of the town with them, but I want it to be more than just holding him for ransom. Does anyone have any ideas? The mayor is also LG, if anyone asks, no he did not build the town on ancient goblin lands if anyone asks

It's a small thing, but IMO very goblin-y.

The goblins aren't advanced or competent enough to really be in the magic item creation business. But they have the next best thing--a Cauldron of Chaos. Potions from the cauldron have unpredictable effects when drunk.

Chaos potions (all durations 1 minute)
1. Expeditious retreat
2. Enlarge person
3. Reduce person
4. Fire breath (produce flame at 30’ or burning hands)
5. Daze (will save each round or lose action. Little colored flash bulbs surround you.)
6. Sleep
7. Invisibility
8. Rage
9. Silence
10. Blindness.

That should give your goblins an unpredictable advantage, usually.

[Gildedragon]

Mayor is the goblin king that has been accidentally polymorphed into human OR the result of an accidental fusion of the Goblin King with an adventurer as a result of a magical mishap

Goblin Ruler has taken a shine to the mayor and is raiding the town as a part of a bridal ceremony

[Pavbat666]

I like all the ideas. How about sophisticated goblin who used to be the leader, turned from evil to good. Then, he was ashamed of being a goblin, and part of such an evil race, that he asked a mighty wizard to be polymorphed into a human. The group of goblins found out about this, and considered him a traitor. He had hid from his old life, and joined politics, later on becoming a mayor. However, the goblins threatened and imprisoned the mighty wizard, taking his chaos potions he made, because he grew old and weak. Before the mayor gets kidnapped, the group will hear rumors about a might wizard who was kidnapped by goblins. When the town gets raided, they will be throwing potions all over the town! Does that sound good, or too cheesy?

[Tiri]

I like all the ideas. How about sophisticated goblin who used to be the leader, turned from evil to good. Then, he was ashamed of being a goblin, and part of such an evil race, that he asked a mighty wizard to be polymorphed into a human. The group of goblins found out about this, and considered him a traitor. He had hid from his old life, and joined politics, later on becoming a mayor. However, the goblins threatened and imprisoned the mighty wizard, taking his chaos potions he made, because he grew old and weak. Before the mayor gets kidnapped, the group will hear rumors about a might wizard who was kidnapped by goblins. When the town gets raided, they will be throwing potions all over the town! Does that sound good, or too cheesy?

Well, the whole leaving one's race because it is too evil is a little unconvincing. How did he get the idea that the society he had been part of his whole life and risen to lead was all of a sudden so vile that he was too good for them? People don't just snap from evil to good, and even if he did it doesn't mean he would lose all loyalty to the goblins, especially after being their leader. Maybe if it was more gradual and he was a bit lower down in goblin society it would work.

The mighty wizard getting kidnapped by goblins sounds ok, but he probably shouldn't be that mighty in reality if a bunch of goblins can overpower him. Remember, even if he got old, all it would do (mechanically) would be to improve his spellcasting. It would also decrease his physical stats, but those aren't nearly as important to a wizard.

[Xalestra]

I always felt goblins are best on home turf. Perhaps it is time for a rather large goblin infestation of the locale areas. Throw in a few Nilbogs :).

[BWR]

I can't resist plugging Mystara, specifically the "Orcs of Thar" gazetteer. Despite the name, it also handles goblins and how goblins work in their own lands and the sorts of adventures that works for them. It's also a hilarious read.

[Gildedragon]

out of left field idea:
Gobbs are extraterrestrials that have crashlanded
they kidnap mayor because mayor has come into posession of the missing device for their spaceship to work: a miniature power core that looks like an odd fancy pocketwatch he bought last time city merchants passed through town.

[Pavbat666]

Well, the whole leaving one's race because it is too evil is a little unconvincing. How did he get the idea that the society he had been part of his whole life and risen to lead was all of a sudden so vile that he was too good for them? People don't just snap from evil to good, and even if he did it doesn't mean he would lose all loyalty to the goblins, especially after being their leader. Maybe if it was more gradual and he was a bit lower down in goblin society it would work.

The mighty wizard getting kidnapped by goblins sounds ok, but he probably shouldn't be that mighty in reality if a bunch of goblins can overpower him. Remember, even if he got old, all it would do (mechanically) would be to improve his spellcasting. It would also decrease his physical stats, but those aren't nearly as important to a wizard.

True, I feel like those are valid points that go through the game. How about if the goblin who left his race was some type of heir (not exactly a prince), but some time of person who would be next to the throne. Maybe at an early age he was exposed to humans, and perhaps he found their living ways better, so seeing that he had a pure heart within, the mighty wizard was able to somehow even change his alignment. However, the goblin ruler, who would be a parent of the goblin heir, thought of his own son shameful, and decided to force the goblins into hating him, just because he really hated his own son.

As for the mighty wizard, he had an apprentice who was very dear to him. The goblins found the apprentice one day on their lands, and captured him, with him being low leveled, and not very good at spellcasting. They eventually make him talk, and they realize that he is the apprentice of the wizard who made the polymorphed the goblin into a human. They held him for ransom, and made the wizard give all of his work away (the chaos potions), or they would have killed the apprentice. Does that cover some of the plot that didn't make sense?

[Tiri]

True, I feel like those are valid points that go through the game. How about if the goblin who left his race was some type of heir (not exactly a prince), but some time of person who would be next to the throne. Maybe at an early age he was exposed to humans, and perhaps he found their living ways better, so seeing that he had a pure heart within, the mighty wizard was able to somehow even change his alignment. However, the goblin ruler, who would be a parent of the goblin heir, thought of his own son shameful, and decided to force the goblins into hating him, just because he really hated his own son.

As for the mighty wizard, he had an apprentice who was very dear to him. The goblins found the apprentice one day on their lands, and captured him, with him being low leveled, and not very good at spellcasting. They eventually make him talk, and they realize that he is the apprentice of the wizard who made the polymorphed the goblin into a human. They held him for ransom, and made the wizard give all of his work away (the chaos potions), or they would have killed the apprentice. Does that cover some of the plot that didn't make sense?

Well, it makes sense that an heir might be exposed to humans, if he had to go on diplomatic missions or something like that. However, I don't really think that the father making his people hate his son is realistic. I mean, it takes a lot to make someone actually hate their own child, and goblins aren't so far off from humans for there to be a huge difference in that area. Also, if he really hated his son that much, he could do something a lot more direct. Apart from that it sounds okay. You might need to give some thought as to how exactly the wizard converted the prince. It could raise some interesting moral conflicts if he did it using magic.

As for the kidnapped apprentice thing, it sounds alright. After all, a really powerful wizard probably wouldn't have much trouble singlehandedly rescuing his assistant, but given the low level of most NPCs, even if he wasn't quite powerful enough to mount a sucessful rescue he might still be considered 'mighty' by the general populace.